


Look Right Through Me

by DefaltManifesto



Series: Locked Out [5]
Category: Skins (UK)
Genre: Character Study, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-06
Updated: 2015-05-06
Packaged: 2018-03-29 09:19:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3890947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DefaltManifesto/pseuds/DefaltManifesto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maybe they're all puzzle pieces that don't quite fit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Look Right Through Me

**Author's Note:**

> This is the last part of the series. I MIGHT return to it but I doubt it because this feels pretty complete. I hope you all liked it. Thanks for the support, comments are loved.

[The tumblr](http://schizzar.tumblr.com)

 

Effy distinctly remembers her own, jaded words to Tony as she'd blown dry their laundry in the kitchen.

_Love, love, love, what is it good for?_

She'd believed it then, because despite the inevitably of her relationship with Tony, it had still felt out of reach. Didn't matter if they knew the truth about how they felt. Living under their parent's careful, and at times suspicious gaze, required a certain degree of decorum Effy wore like a second skin even as it tried to smother her. She dreams about those words and Tony's soft-

_You don't fool me, Effy Stonem._

But it's not so much a dream as it is a reminder of what she'll never do again because...she doesn't have to pretend anymore.

Waking from the memory-esque dreams is like resurfacing in the ocean after nearly drowning. It's a gasp of Tony's name. It's a hand stretching out to lay over his chest and feel the-

_Th-thump-_

_Th-thump-_

_-_ of his heart.

She'll curl onto her side and draw her arms in to wrap around her own body. Tony always shifts onto his side and they stare, quiet and tense, into one another's eyes. She stares and tries to memorize all the subtle changes in his eye color as the sun rises. They don't touch. Their skin is too raw, even for each other, on mornings Effy has to claw her way out of such troubling dreams.

"I love you," she'll whisper once she's convinced herself that Tony is real again.       

"I love you too."

           

-.-

 

Franky is used to being the puzzle piece that doesn't fit. She's gotten used to it over the years. When she's wrapped in the cocoon of Tony and Effy's arms, she's able to pretend that she fits right in, that this is her place. Of course, Tony and Effy make sure to tell her that the two of them love her very much, and Franky knows it's true because they know when to switch pronouns and-

He never has to say a word. They just _know_ , in that weird way Stonems know just about everything. And maybe...maybe that feeling of belonging isn't just pretend. Maybe it's for real. But Franky's been fooled before and _God_ he knows better. He knows-

That she likes Effy's fingers playing in her hair in the morning.

He likes the smell of Tony burning breakfast in the morning because it means he's trying.

She likes the way Effy always laughs like she's surprised by it because then she knows it's genuine.

So yeah, maybe Franky is wrong. Maybe they're all puzzle pieces that don't quite fit. That doesn't make them matter any less.

 

-.-

 

Tony always wakes up first. He likes it that way because it means he can watch the sun filter through the curtains and play shadows off the sleeping faces of Franky and Effy. They look different when they sleep; soft edged shapes curling towards the warmth of a companion. They're happier like this; honest in their desires in a way Tony rarely sees when he's awake.

Effy is his other half, he knows that. She always will be, but they still struggle to talk. Words are like knives between them, because they only serve to cheapen the feelings that bubble up whenever they look at each other.

Franky though...Franky says the things they both want to say and it never sounds wrong on her lips.

_You're gorgeous._

_Staring into your eyes, I swear, sometimes it's like getting lost._

_Would it kill you to put your clothes in the hamper for once?_

_I didn't realize someone could burn bacon this bad._

_You're everything to me._

_I am nothing without you._


End file.
